Story+2005-08-06+St.+Louis,+MO

´´Thank you....thanks a lot....thanks....wrote a lot about, uh, parents and children and mothers and sons, what happens when that bond gets severed and, uh, was a beautiful book out quite a while ago now, I guess, a book called ´Amazing Grace´ by Jonothon Kozol....and it, uh.... it documented the life of young kids in the middle of a city and uh....so this is a song, uh.... it´s a little bit inspired by that book, I guess, and uh....about how we triage our citizens and the youngest and weakest of ´em, this is called ´Black Cowboys´....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Black Cowboys´´**

´´Thank you, Kev´, alright, this is a, uh....song, of course, uh, I´ve been telling the folks, you know, we had our first teenage party the other night and uh....it wasn´t too bad....once I put the drugs away, it was alright....they were mine - no (chuckles) no, no, I´ve actually never taken drugs but I, I plan to start taking them soon, that´s my....sort of, uh, you know, what´ve I got to lose now? but uh (chuckles) but it kind of went alright, it went alright, there´s the, uh, I´ve told folks, the three stages of parenthood, you know, when they´re little, you´re the benevolent hand of God, uh, you know, they get a little older and you´re kind of a tolerable idiot but you´ve got the money so that´s where the tolerable-part comes in, I guess, and then a little older than that, unfortunately you become the fucking idiot, you know, and uh....but, you know, the fucking idiot with the money so they gotta....leaves open that little thin, thin line of communication that´s always there....anyway, here´s ´Long, Long Time Comin´....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Long Time Comin´´´**

´´Thanks, yeah....yeah, that, uh, that last verse worries me a little bit, I´m, I´m sounding a little smug there, it should´ve, it should´ve, it should´ve been either ´I ain´t gonna fuck it up too bad this time´ or perhaps ´I hope I´m not gonna fuck it up this time´....so, uh, those, that´s probably, would have been perhaps more accurate, more accurate interpretation of my predicament but uh (chuckles) but uh, alright, I´m, I´m pulling out some obscure things out of the hat so uh....(?) a good summer song so....alright.....(gets to ´Soldier´s Field´ and realises he´s singing wrong) no, fucked that up there....I got the wrong verse....(sings to himself)....I may have to skip over that line (chuckles) //getting ready for the county fair....//´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´County Fair´´**

´´That´s a weird song....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´The River´´ (following ´County Fair´)**

´´I just came back from Europe, alright....(?)....where I tried to explain to them that there was a big debate going on in the United States right now over, uh, who came first - the man or the monkey....uh....I also tried to explain to them that the monkey doesn´t vote so....uh, they believe the monkey came first and they also are pretty sure about where the monkey is....so (crowd cheers) no applause, please, it makes me feel like I´m preaching to the converted (chuckles)....now....you know, the Scopes Monkey Trial and all that stuff, uh, I´ve kind of been talking about this for a big piece of the tour, for quite a while Iwas feeling rather smugly superior to my evangelical brothers and sisters....but then the Catholics threw their hat into the ring....why? why? after all these years, why now?....so I´m in the shit with everybody else (chuckles) but uh, I also tried to explain to them in Europe that under the current conditions some of their favorite American, uh, imports just couldn´t, wouldn´t exist, like the Flintstones....there´s an enormous audience for that in, in, uh, on the continent in Europe and I tried to explain to them that the ambiguous relationship between Fred and Barney....couldn´t get that made today...without even bringing Dino into the question....so.... it´s great to be back home (chuckles).... (....) Now, we´ve come a long way, baby....and we´re going back.....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Part Man Part Monkey´´**

´´(?) a request, somebody asked for this out back....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´All the Way Home´´**

´´Thanks....alright....I´m gonna take a swing at this one, I never played this one by myself, I´m never gonna play it again so, uh, I´m gonna screw it up while I´m going through it so, uh, any bad notes you hear, those are intentional....alright? I´ll do this for Bobby, you out there? (some people yell) nah, he´s a kid....a kid with a banjo....did you get in?....he is? his old man (?)? no? he ran away from home already (?)(chuckles) alright, I´m gonna give this one a shot, uh....alright, ok, hold on, wait, wait, let me prepare myself, mmmmm, alright (chuckles)....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Backstreets´´**

´´Uh...yike, I brought, uh (chuckles) I was brought up Catholic, I lived on a little - excuse me (chuckles) that´s disgusting (chuckles)(?) a little L-shaped lot where we had like, uh, oh, it was like this, it was, uh, we had my grandmother´s house, I lived in there with my grandma, my parents and there was a field and there was, uh, the nuns´ convent, then the priest´s rectory and the Catholic church on the corner and right across the street from the Catholic church was my aunt´s house with my cousins in it, next to her was my other aunt´s house, my uncle and cousins in it, and up the street about two more houses was my greatgrandmother´s house and that was all on my father´s side and then across the street was my mother´s family, it was her, uh, her aunt and her mama and my uncle and, and a cousin so we kind of had this whole little area of the block sewed up, you know, and that was how I grew up, uh, but I saw about every wedding and every funeral for the first ten years of my, of my life in the church, all the life was, all the life was situated around the church, if there was a wedding, everybody ran up the street, if there was a funeral, everybody ran up the street (chuckles) I´d see more guys carried away in a black Cadillac before I was ten than, uh (chuckles) but I don´t know, you know, I kind of left the whole thing when I got out of grammar school and you always think you get away from it but har-har, you know, that´s the joke, I guess, it´s like that Al Pacino-line: ´I keep trying to get out, they keep pulling me back´ so I looked through my music and it´s filled with kind of religious imagery and, and I look back on it now and rather than the pure bitter hatred I had for the first 50 years of my life (chuckles) I now have mellowed, I´ve mellowed about that and uh (chuckles) and there was a lot of power and, and beauty and poetry and terror and, and ecstasies and mystery, oh, man, deep, deep mystery in, in, I mean it was, it was a very, it was a, I look back and it was a childhood filled with mysticism and, and unknown things, uh....so as I was writing about parents and children, I said ´Oh yeah,´ you know, what´s, what would it been like for Jesus just as someone´s son, once you have your own kids, you know, everybody´s somebody´s baby, you know (chuckles) and uh, so I wrote this song, this was, you know, your kids have got their own destiny, which you fear for because you know not only are they gonna make up their own minds but you´re along for the whole damn ride and uh (chuckles) so, uh, anyway, this is ´Jesus Was an Only Son´.... (....) //at His mother´s feet....//and the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is how suddenly there´s this feeling that there´s nothing you wouldn´t do to keep them safe.... and that that´s a life sentence.... (....) //will pierce your dreams this night....//and if you figure that the choices that we make get their weight and their meaning from the things that we give up, you choose one part of life.... and you let go of something else....I always figured Jesus had to be thinking about what He was gonna lose.....that there was....that it was beautiful this time of year down in Galilee and there´s this great little bar near the beach....and He could manage the place....and Mary Magdalene could tend bar and they could have a bunch of kids....and get to see the sun fall on their faces and get to watch their lungs fill with air at night when they´re asleep and get to see the next day....and the day after that....the next day....and the next day....and the next day....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Jesus Was an Only Son´´**

´´Thank you, thanks a lot....yeah....alright (?)....this is, uh, a song, we carry the seeds of, of creation with us (?) an ability to build good things and, and....throw love around and, uh, we also carry the seeds of destruction and, uh, that´s kind of the human package, I guess, that was, I don´t know if that was God´s joke, that was supposed to be His punishment, I suppose, you know, uh, but....I always figured....it was all gonna happen anyway, I don´t buy the part that says, you know, we screwed up and got tossed, you know, I, I (chuckles) I always think He set the whole thing up, alright, there´s this garden....here´s a tree....if it´s all the other trees you get to touch (?)(chuckles) He made us so He knows who He´s talking to... how many walks around the garden can you take, you know? we all come back around to the appletree (chuckles) and, uh, those urges never go away so, uh....so we are here long ways east of Eden and, uh....this is called ´The Hitter´....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´The Hitter´´**

´´(towards the end of ´The Hitter´ someone yells ´Thank you´)....Thank you, thanks....yes, you´re, uh, you´re very welcome, thanks....this was song, I lived in California for three or four years and I wrote a series of songs set in - get the feedback out of that, Lou....wrote a series of songs set in the Central Valley and along....along the border, this was kind of song that´s part of that series or a sequel to those songs, every year hundreds of people die just trying to get across our southern borders to get into the United States to do the dirtiest and the hardest jobs that we have, they, uh, die of dehydration in the desert and they die crossing the rivers and in the backs of vans, this is a song I wrote backwards, it goes from the body, the point of view of the body at the bottom of the river to the man walking across the desert to, uh, he´s standing on the banks of the Rio Grande across from Brownsville, Texas....what we really need is, uh, uh, instead of vigilantes along the border, we need a humane immigration policy....here´s ´Matamoros Banks´....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Matamoros Banks´´**

´´Alright, this was a request from somebody out there....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´Wild Billy´s Circus Story´´**

´´Thank you....I wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight....I don´t think I´ve been in this theater since ´96, it´s just a beautiful, beautiful place to play, you´re so fortunate to have this here in your town, just a lovely, lovely theater...and, uh, I wanna do this, it´s a shout-out for friends of ours from the St.Louis Area Foodbank, they´ll be out there in the lobby, if you can, on the way out, please check them out and give them some support, they´re here in the St.Louis area, they help by distributing food to a lot of member agencies and they educate the public on the nature and the solution to the problems of hunger, those are good folks out there on the frontline doing God´s work so, if you can, on your way out, check out St.Louis Foodbank here with us tonight, this is for them and for you, nice to be back....´´
 * 06.08.05 St.Louis, MO, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//